


Fic: How It Should Be: The Healing, H5-0, PG-13

by rubygirl29



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Gen, Wish-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-01
Updated: 2011-06-01
Packaged: 2017-10-20 01:44:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/207460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubygirl29/pseuds/rubygirl29
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just me and more of my wish-fic on the Season 1 finale. The team slowly comes back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fic: How It Should Be: The Healing, H5-0, PG-13

**How It Should Be: _The Healing_**

The breeze was light, the sun was warm. Steve felt like he had been reborn as he stood on the steps of Honolulu General waiting for Danny to pick him up. He was free. His name was cleared. Kono was out on bail pending the review of the evidence against her. Given that their hand had been forced by the late governor who had refused to help Chin Ho, it seemed likely that all charges would be dropped.

They would be together again as a team, but Wo Fat was alive. That hurt. Steve was smart enough to know that there were times to fight, and there were times to lie low and let wounds heal. The stitch of pain when he breathed told him this was one of those times. He had a lot of mending, physical and psychological, to get through before they could take on the big bad.

Danny's Camaro rolled up to the curb. Steve grinned and made his way down the steps. Every motion jarred his injuries but the smile on Danny's face made it worthwhile. It wasn't as if Danny hadn't spent every available minute at Steve's side over the last week, but the warmth of friendship had pulled him through. He raised his hand and tried not to let the hitch in movement give his discomfort away.

Danny wasn't alone. Grace hopped out and ran up to him. "Uncle Steve!"

"Hey, Grace!" He let her hug him gently around his waist.

"Are you better? Danno said I couldn't see you while you were in the hospital. I made him bring me today."

"You did? How?"

"I cried."

Steve was aghast. "Really?"

"Not crying for real," she reassured him, opening her eyes wide, letting her lip tremble. "Danno caved."

Steve laughed despite the pain. "You win the Oscar for that one." Her face was bright, happy, and Steve was awed by her trust. He stroked her hair. "Thank you, Gracie."

"Danno was worried about you."

"I know, sweetheart. I know." He took her hand. "Let's go home."

"Danno says he has a surprise for you."

Surprises. Steve distrusted surprises. They were either followed by embarrassment or disaster. Danny opened the door for him with a mocking bow. "Your chariot awaits."

"I'm not an invalid."

"Your doctor tells me different. I quote, 'no strenuous activity, stretching, or sudden movements. In short, Steven, you are to get in the car, which I will drive at a sedate pace to your home, and sit in a comfortable chair while your minions -- Miss Grace and I -- wait on you hand and foot."

Steve looked skeptical. "Right." He settled gingerly in the passenger seat and fastened his seat belt. "What's the surprise?" he asked warily.

"What surprise? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No idea. That's not wha--"

"Can we stop for shave ice, Danno?" Grace piped up from the back seat. "It's not too far to Kamekona's stand, is it?"

"Sweetie, we really should get Uncle Steve home, first."

"Please?"

Steve hid his amusement behind his hand. "Man, you are such putty in her hands." He turned around. "Shave ice sounds good to me."

"Yay!"

"I have just been double-teamed," Danny sighed, but he drove to the beach.

Kamekona came out from behind his stand, his arms held wide. "Hey, shortie. What are you doing here?"

"Grape shave ice, please."

"You like having a blue tongue?"

"Yes, please!"

Danny rolled his eyes and handed over the money. Steve was wilting against the side of the car. It was like an invisible wall had been erected between him and Kamekona. Danny hated it. "Okay, enough of this. Kamekona, Steven. Come over here. There is no wall between you. Come on, monkey. Let's take a walk." He held out his hand to Grace.

Steve looked at Kamekona. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten you involved in this."

"Brah, I gave you the gun. I'm sorry." The big man looked sorrowful. "You going to be okay?"

"I think so."

"You look like a man who needs some shave ice. Cherry-lemon?"

Steve smiled. "You remember."

"I remember." He went behind his stand and scooped out a cone. "This is on the house, one time only."

"Got it."

He waved at Danny and Grace, motioning them to come back to the car and holding up his cone. Danny's grin was brighter than the sun. Maybe, just maybe things would be all right.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^  
They drove to his house. Steve couldn't take his eyes off the familiar sights. The highway ran along the the ridge overlooking the ocean. The sand below was white, the waters an impossible turquoise. He had been away before: away fighting, away serving his country, but his heart had never left this place. It was _hale_. Home. It had never been so welcoming.

As soon as Danny pulled into the driveway, Steve was taking off his seat belt and opening the car door. "Whoa, there big guy. You get up too fast and you're gonna do a face-plant into the gravel."

"I'm fine."

"Humor me. Grace --" But Grace had fallen asleep in the back seat. "Okay, you first."

Steve waited until Danny was standing at the passenger side door, then slowly levered himself out of the seat. His side ached, his back ached, and the ground seemed farther away than it usually did, but he made it upright. He stood for a moment looking at the waves breaking on the shore. Freedom.

He hadn't lied to Danny. He had been in a jail before as a prisoner of war. He had known starvation, beatings, torture, but he had _known_ his team would come for him. He had _known_ the might of the United States military and intelligence communities would kill to get him back ... and they had. War was one thing, greed was something else entirely in his mind.  
He couldn't forgive that motive. He couldn't forgive what had been done to his father, his mother and now his team.

He didn't know that his eyes had lost their focus until Danny tapped his shoulder. "Hey, Rain Man, you with me? Time to come inside and get horizontal."

"What?"

"Did they bounce your head off the concrete? You're zoning out on me here."

Steve shook his head. "I'm fine. Just enjoying the view."

"It didn't look like you were enjoying it all that much. Come on." Danny tugged at his elbow. "You need to sleep."

"I've slept for a week."

"No. I've in in hospitals. Nobody sleeps in hospitals. They wake you up at ungodly hours, do horrible things to you while you're still half-asleep, drain you like vampires in the night, and then have the nerve to wake you up at 7am for breakfast and rounds where the whole thing starts all over again. That, my friend, is not sleeping. It is a nightmare."

Steve coughed back a laugh at Danny's assessment. He was right, even though Steve would never admit to being tired. It would be good to sleep. Someday. "I can sleep when I'm dead," he quipped.

"Which will be a lot sooner and tamer than you'd like unless you get your fine ass inside and go to sleep."

"You think my ass is fine?"

"I think you're on drugs," Danny grumbled. He pulled on his sleeve again. "Now."

Inside, the house was cool. Everything was how he had left it; neat, clean, quiet. The way he liked things to be. He wasn't a neat-freak, but his years spent in close quarters in the Navy, and the need for a SEAL to keep his gear in order and close at hand had made him almost hyper-aware of placement and purpose. He walked the room, doing his check.

"Steven ...?" Danny's query was soft, "What are you doing?"

"Just checking things,."

"Got some OCD going there?"

Steve gave him an exasperated look. "I like things neat." He wondered if saying more would help, but decided to let it go. He wasn't up to Danny's banter. His head ached. "I thought you said I should get some rest."

"You are a diversion waiting to happen."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't make sense because your brain is still scrambled."

"The only thing that's giving me a headache is trying to keep up with your logic or lack there-of."

"Whoa! Multi-syllabic words from a man who thinks a grunt is socially acceptable conversation."

"Go fuck off and let me sleep." Steve collapsed on the couch and put his feet up. He crossed his arms and deliberately closed his eyes. He didn't know how long he was out, but when he opened them again, Grace was standing in front of the couch, studying him.

"Hey, Gracie," he murmured sleepily. "What's up?"

"You don't look so good, Uncle Steve."

"I'm better, Gracie." He sat up, "You sound like Danno."

"He said you should come for dinner. He grilled."

"He did?"

"Steaks for you and him, and a burger for me. With grilled pineapple and teriyaki sauce."

"You're eating like a native," Steve smiled at her. "What does Danno say to that?"

"He rolls his eyes," she giggled, her hand wriggled into his, small and confiding. "And your surprise is here. A good surprise."

He had forgotten. In his life, the word surprise had become synonymous with explosions, disasters, attacks in the dark. Somehow, he doubted that Danny would do something that half-assed. Therefore, surprise equaled good.

He stepped onto the grass and followed the path to the beach. He heard laughter. He heard Danny laugh, and Chin. He heard Jenna and he heard _Kono_! He quickened his pace and nearly ran the last few yards.

Danny had lit a fire. The sizzle and scent of roasting meat and smoke greeted him. Grouped around it was his team. His _team_! H5-0.

Grace squeezed his hand. "I told you it was a good surprise."

Steve grinned at her. "It's the best, Grace." She tugged him down the slope.

He was being greeted, hugged. He folded Kono in his arms. "How are you here?" he asked.

"The judge set bail a week ago. I'm on my own recognizance pending further investigation." A brief shadow crossed her face, then cleared. "But I'm free for now, except for this lovely accessory." She waggled her foot with a monitoring anklet on it. "No surfing."

"We'll get you out of it. I should be the one wearing that."

Danny stood next to him. "Not you. You're a hero. All charges dropped. You're not HPD."

"She didn't _steal_ the money. I did."

"Can't we just enjoy this? One evening together, okay? Let it go, Steven. Just let it go for one night."

Steve looked at Grace standing by Chin Ho at the fire, at Jenna's wide eyes pleading with him. One night wouldn't hurt, Danny was right. He took a breath. "Let's eat. I'm starving."

They ate and drank. They watched the sunset over the ocean. In that time, in that place, in that blue Hawaiian twilight, it was easy to pretend that everything was all right. It was easy to forget that it wasn't.

 **The End**


End file.
